Timing is everything

Sometimes you can really get lucky. I'm in Detroit, on a business trip, late on a Sunday afternoon. I've just spent the last three hours at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Every second week is free Ford Sundays, so I got to enjoy all the amazing painting and sculptures for nothing, sponsored by Ford Motor Company.  Got a few really good photos. 

The previous day someone had mentioned a cool jazz bar in town called Cliff Bells, so I drive the few blocks south, find a parking spot (also free), and walk around the corner. Three guys are standing just outside the bar talking intently about something.  I veer around them, peer through the glass in the front door, and hesitate a moment.  Someone walks by me, opens the door and enters, so I follow him and stand inside, adjusting for a minute to the change of light. It's a very upscale bar, mahogany bar tops, and stylish lighting set the scene. Tables are scattered around, and the place is bustling with staff running here and there organizing something.

I sit down at the bar and order a Vodka and Sprite.  I ask how much, but they say it's free. I assume it's some sort of promotion, first one to get you hooked or something. The band is practicing up on stage, and they sound pretty good, so I relax and listen. 5 guys, one singing, the others playing.  They are actually very good. I listen till they stop practicing. 

The head of the band comes over for a drink, and I strike up a conversation with him. He has a crazy hairstyle, and unusual clothes. Turns out he is an Italian artist, and music is his other love.  Often plays the saxophone. But tonite he and his band are playing a somewhat unconventional instrument.  They call themselves  iBand. They play iPads.  You would be amazed at the sounds you can make with them, especially as a group. He gives me his business card, thin, black, with this crazy looking pic on it.  Apparently he did the pic himself. 

The staff really are busy.  They are all wearing special black shirts.  Most have a pretend suit, vest and tie painted on them in black and white, even the girls.  Some have big easily read words on the front, like "Drinks", or "Meat", or "Seafood".

I get another drink, and don't ask about the money.  They don't ask me.  I wait around for ages, passing the time in texting and checking out the artist's website, crammed full of fluorescent pop style art with swirls and comic characters and flowers and hippie girls and all sorts of crazy stuff. (www.fluon.it)

Eventually lots of people turn up, and fill the place nearly to overflowing. I get another drink.  The waiters come around and start serving delicious hors d'oeuvres.  They offer me one after the other till I can't eat any more.

Obviously I have stumbled into some private event, and miraculously didn't get stopped at the entrance.  Once I had been there a while everyone assumed I belonged. I saw other people being turned away, looking very disappointed. 

About 8 a guy gets up and gives a short speech, and introduces the band. I find out the event is being run by Volkswagen. It's the media reception event for the motor show being held in Detroit this week. All the big company hob nobs are there, and all the big media companies have sent their best people to cover the event. I think the guy talking was the CEO or someone.

The band plays for an hour.  Everyone loves them. I change drinks and have a Baileys instead. They leave for an hour, and while they are away another band plays, this time with conventional instruments. They are pretty good too. Then iBand comes back and plays for another hour.  They get 2 encores. The Volkswagen elite are clapping and dancing and having a wonderful time. We all enjoy ourselves immensely.


I stagger out of the place after 11, and wander back to my hotel room. The 5 alcoholic drinks have had 6 hours to settle, so I don't weave all over the road too much. I fall asleep soon after getting back, still flabbergasted that split second timing had turned my probably boring evening into an entertainment-filled and memorable one. 

Clever Sex

Lester suggests where we should go for our Thursday night outing. He gets to choose - its only fair since he was let go yesterday :(

He picks Dragonfly, a cool restaurant and lounge with a wonderfully relaxed atmosphere, and quite tasty food. We did Rack 'n' Roll last time, and all agree that we need a change from foosball.

The whole crowd is there, Albert, Leo, Nabil, Sruthi, Lester of course, Alok (he actually came this time!), Tawanda (Alok's new colleague), Manju, Bright, and his carpool buddy Sam.

The place is amazing, plush furnishings, gothic motifs, detailed stonework and carved woodwork. The ornate dragonflies hanging from the rich burgundy velvet drapes add a nice touch.

Nabil is into red wine, Sruthi is drinking some sort of plum martini, I'm having a mojito, everyone is consuming a variety of different cocktails and liquors - most of us have seconds and get very happy. The conversation flows freely, but you wouldn't want to take some of it out of context, or it might sound very suspicious. So here goes:

"Nabil is the best blower in CDR."

"I'm having problems with a vibrator - how do I get it working properly?", asks Lester inncocently. "Let's ask the expert, Sruthi!", everyone says in unison.

Nabil stands up and makes yet another announcement: "Leo shares his towel..." (don't even want to think about that one)

"You want it right now?!" demands Bright (whatever could he be talking about?)

"Banging goes with any alcohol!"

Bright gives us his words of wisdom about how gender and intelligence mix:
A smart man plus a smart woman is a great life;
a smart man and a dumb woman is pregnancy;
a dumb man and a smart woman is an affair;
a dumb man and a dumb woman is a marriage.

We all agreed whole-heartedly :)

Half way through, a live light jazz band starts playing swinging music, adding a lot to the atmosphere. A fantastic night out, we all enjoy ourselves immensely.

"Blow out those candles Nabil!" But he surpises us by extinguishing them with one swift wave of his hand.

Floating Eggs

You would think Easter would be a time for eating eggs, but Charlotte had more fun flying them instead. Not exactly flying, more like throwing and then watching as they float down slowly on their attached parachutes. And then chasing to see if you can catch them before they hit the ground. Never-ending fun, as you can keep throwing indefinitely. Until you get cold of course and run back inside.

Of course later she had fun eating them too (after the obligatory easter egg hunt).

Bad, bad, bad

Some days words are not enough to express it. Take a look at this:



And that's just the top layer. There is lots underneath. This is all the food that we found while looking through Jake and Charlotte's rooms today looking for her wallet that she can't find. Instead we find they have been stealing food and taking it upstairs to their rooms, smug and self-satisfied that mum and dad didn't know what they were doing.

Grounded for two weeks, no after school clubs, early bed-time. But its not enough. How do we get them to understand this is a bad idea...

Udderly Irresistable

Charlotte tonight told me a bed-time story, since I couldn't think of one to tell her. She made it up as she went along, which was surprising, as the whole thing fitted together quite well. Its quite short, and it went something like this:

There were once four animals, a horse, a dolphin, a rabbit and a cow. Each represented a different aspect of life.

The horse, majestic and free, represented the soul, proud and strong.
The dolphin, quick and playful, represented the mind, intelligent and creative.
The rabbit, cute and cuddly, represented the heart, emotional and compassionate.
The cow, slow but content, represented the stomach, empty, full, and everything in between.

One day the horse, the dolphin, the rabbit and the cow came together for a party. Everyone brought something to eat, that they might all share with each other.

The horse brought cookies, the epitome of soul food.
The dolphin brought bananas, food to enrich everyone's brain.
The rabbit brought candy, little valentine sweets to make everyone smile.

The cow didn't quite understand the whole concept of party food, being, as we said, a little on the slow side, but nevertheless brought something that seemed appropriate, at least to her. Although the others were not exactly impressed with her choice.

"Can you guess what it is dad?", asked Charlotte, stalling a while so she could make up the ending in her mind. "No Charlotte, I can't."

'C'mon, guess, please?"
          "Um, was it grass?"
"No."
          "I don't know, tell me Charlotte."

Charlotte thought for a moment more, and finished the story with one quick statement, that sort of summed the whole thing up in a nutshell.

The bright bovine brought a cowpie.

Tasty Bovine Treat

Sitting at lunch today, most of the whole crowd, Albert, Bright, Sruthi, Manju, Nabil and I, discussing the usual motley collection of random topics.

We get onto soup, which seems to be a popular one. In this case the unspiciness of my "spicy crab chowder". The usual americanized cafeteria food. I wonder why we don't go out more often?

Someone, I think it was Bright, puts the weirdest image in our heads. Cow soup. He doesn't mean soup that has beef in it. He means grabbing hold of the teats of a cow, and exercising them in a "milking" motion, only, instead of milk coming out, you get delicious, spicy soup. Putting your mouth under them and the soup squirting straight into it. Tasty. Scrumptious. Bizarre.

Not as bizarre as the egg soup that is suggested next. That's right. Nothing Chinese about it. Crack open a nice fresh egg, and out comes, you guessed it, delectable soup.

Coconut Creme Brulee

Its our fourth wedding anniversary today. Check the date and you can easily do some simple math to work out how long we've been married for :)

Coco Bongos, a neuvo latino restaurant in Ridgefield, CT, only 20 minutes away. Lighting just right, with little candles set in insets in the custom made stone wall, and in artistic spiral cast iron swirls on the other walls. And cute sparkling stars flashing above the central palm tree. Cozy atmosphere, excellent and fast service, absolutely delicious food (I had the Carne Latina and Sigrid had the Churrasco, am going to have that one myself next time), with a lovely bread and dipping sauce to go with it. And the dessert was out of this world.

And the tasty Caipirinha cocktail (a Brazilian drink made with lime, sugar, lots of ice and a sugar cane-based drink called cachaça) I had with the meal was oh so strong and made me happy and sleepy - Sigi drove home :)

Dark Side Cookies

Playing a game of Horse Lovers Monopoly, that Charlotte got for Christmas (and was over-the-moon about).

Jake lands on Sigi's stable, and has to pay up big. He thinks quick, and offers instead an alliance.

"Join the dark side. We have cookies. Low-fat cookies."

How could she refuse an offer like that?

UBS Christmas Party

Drinks: 3 stars
Food: 2 stars
Desert: 5 stars
Atmosphere: 2 stars
Company: it isn't so much the people that are there, it is the people that aren't - none of the contractors are allowed to come, which is most of our team :(

No live band doesn't help either.

At least those raspberries and cream and Tiramisu taste delicious :)

Ooey Gooey

On our way to P F Changs for lunch (which is quite tasty, even though it arrives somewhat late, much to Leo's annoyance) one of our party steps in a huge blob of chewing gum. Guess who. Yep, Leo. He is having one of those days.

He then takes off his shoe and spends the next 5 minutes hopping around and trying to scrape it all off his heel, with Albert giving him advice, and everyone else having a good laugh. :)

The Great Wall of Chocolate makes us forget all about it of course. D-licious!

Oh, and my fortune cookie says "Be careful! Straight trees often have crooked roots." Have no idea what that means.